Page 58 of Soulless Angel

Instead, they dragged us along to a closed door underneath the staircase. Another set of stairs took us down to the basement. It didn’t look like a typical basement. Lavish carpet lined the way. Framed pictures adorned the walls. At the bottom of the stairs, a large bar stacked with bottles overlooked a large entertainment area filled with pool tables and old arcade games. Someone with a lot of money definitely lived here.

They brought us through the rec room into an adjoining room. That’s where they dumped us on the hard floor. This room was almost empty. Finished walls and nice tile had been paired with ropes and shackles hanging from the walls. Panic swallowed me whole when I saw the laptops and cameras set up on a desk in one corner.

Without another word to us, each man took up position on either side of the door. They each pulled off their masks and tossed them aside. The man who had been wearing the beaver mask stared straight ahead, no longer acknowledging us.However, Rabbit Mask scowled in our direction, a hateful glare etched on his grizzled face.

Were one of these men JD? No, the man in charge would not do this kind of grunt work himself. I had a feeling we were about to meet the man behind everything. Unless he was too good to get his hands dirty with this kind of business.

A few minutes later, the door opened again, and a dark haired man dressed in a black suit entered. He held a glass of wine in one hand and a gun nonchalantly in the other. At first glance, he could have been mistaken for handsome. Upon closer inspection, there was no denying the ugliness in his eyes. Pure evil filled this man.

His dark gaze landed on us right away. A serpentine smile danced about his lips. “Hello, ladies. Pleasure to meet you both. Well, it will be for me anyway. My name is JD. Would either of you care to explain to me why you’re trying to ruin my business?”

He stalked over to me first, casually ripping the tape from my mouth. The sudden sharp sting was startling.

“Speak,” he commanded.

I gaped at him, fighting to make the words come out. I didn’t know how to answer that question.

“Someone has to stop a monster like you,” I heard myself say.

It wasn’t like me to be so confrontational when my very life was on the line. Although I’d never faced death as many times as I had since falling in love with the Angels. I may be a victim, but I didn’t have to act like one.

JD chuckled. “And you think that will be you? That’s adorable.” Turning to the two men who’d brought us here, he barked, “Strip them down to their underwear. Get them strung up on the wall.”

He stepped back to sip his wine and watch while the two men came for me. They untied my feet first so they could tear my pants off my flailing body. Once my wrists were free, one man held me down while the other literally ripped off my shirt. In only my bra and panties, I fought uselessly while they shackled me to the wall.

The metal shackles dug into my skin, biting deep. I wondered how many people had hung here before me. Another set of shackles were locked around each ankle, spreading my legs uncomfortably wide. Thankfully, nobody looked twice at the thin metal circling my ankle.

A few minutes later, Raina was secured to the wall several feet away. They’d removed her tape only to have her go on a tirade of curses and obscenities. JD was intrigued to learn that her father was Desmond Monroe, although it didn’t change his mind. If anything, it made him more interested in Raina.

He set his wine down on the desk and gravitated closer to her, grabbing her chin in his hand after stuffing his gun in the waistband of his pants. “A mobster’s daughter, huh? Your video is going to make me a fortune.”

“My video is going to bury you,” she hissed. “This will be the last mistake you ever make, asshole.”

JD suddenly slapped Raina across the face. Then he gripped her throat hard enough to make her face turn red. “You know, I’d planned to let these two have all the fun with you both, but I think I’d like to do the honors myself. And I like to do things slowly. Feel free to scream. In fact, I encourage it. Nobody will hear you.”

Releasing Raina, he moved to the desk with the computer and camera set up. He produced a wolf mask and slid it on before nodding to the two men waiting for instruction. “Start recording. We’re going to make the best content yet.”

My stomach climbed into my throat. I half expected to throw up all over JD as soon as he came towards me. When he flipped open a wooden box on the floor near the desk and pulled out a whip, that feeling grew. This was no sexy, gentle whip made for fun. This was the kind of whip that would cut you open with one lash.

He went to Raina first, pausing to confirm the cameras were rolling. Dragging the tip of the whip along her body, he paused to examine the scars marking her torso. Scars left behind by the man I’d fallen in love with.

“Tell me what happened here,” he demanded. “Looks like some nasty being already got a taste of you.”

His remark had me cringing. I could barely look at Raina’s scars without hating myself and Daire. Even though they’d found a precarious peace, it still made me recoil at the thought of him doing that to her.

Raina held her head high, staring him right in the eye. As much as she could with him wearing that stupid mask anyway. “I’m not telling you a goddamn thing, motherfucker. Do whatever you’re going to do, but don’t expect me to play my part. Your days of doing this shit are over. You won’t see tomorrow.”

I held my breath, nervous that he would catch on to the fact that we were wearing tracking devices. Thankfully, he seemed too intrigued by Raina’s wild spirit. Unfortunately, that only made him long to break it.

JD gently touched her face. He turned it from one side to the other, examining her closely. Then he stepped back and swung the whip. It cracked hard across Raina’s stomach, immediately drawing blood from a long gash.

“Stop it,” I screamed, unable to watch him hurt my best friend.

When JD turned to me, I felt the evil grin under his mask. “Oh, I’m sorry. Did you want to go first? Maybe take turns? I wouldn’t want to leave you out, darling.”

He moved so fast. The sharp sting of the whip slashing through my skin stole my breath. I sagged against the shackles holding me. Blood welled up from a cut across my middle, running down to stain my underwear.

“Please, don’t do this,” I whispered softly.

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